With 8 hungry men in a busy monastery providing meals can become a full time job. A gifted friar will have to cook sometimes, for example on weekends and when the cook is sick, but most evening meals are prepared by our delightful Dominican (that's from the Island of Dominica, not the religious order of the same name) cook from the Spice Islands, Miss Meryl. She is amazingly versatile and can improvise from any scraps in the refrigerator. Her speciality is fish and I'd like to add sauces. In the last 6 months she has come down with all sorts of illnesses and yet she comes back, alive and happy as ever to whip up a dinner for us. Her inviting smile is as fantastic as her spiced dishes! May Miss Meryl be blessed with great happiness, joy, perfect health and a lively faith, the rest of her life and may Our Lady and Lord reward her abundantly for her dedicated service to the monastery. Thank you Meryl, I'll miss you in novitiate!

Finally burning all the gigs of photos from the last 2 months of shoots. The excitement of shooting my niece Charlie and working for Mount Carmel was great. I think the sisters will invite me back again for another litany of photo assignments for their website. I'm hoping to do a "one-day-in-the-life" of sister Jeannette, Anna or Rosario. Honestly, it is a great way to study a person for a day, anticipating their gestures, learning what to capture, making a story in your head, looking for the missing shot that tells the plot and is unique and compelling about the person. Of course, each shoot has a purpose, and in this case thinking of vocation work for possible new sisters. Exciting for Mercedarians!

The bulk of the postulancy is in my wake, a safe place where giving thanks to God for it all seems all the easier. Praise God! As you might remember I was granted an abbreviated time of 6 months because of prior religious life experience. Now with less than a handful of days to count down I'm looking to my vacation and then a new place, novitiate. May all be according to God's plan.